Electrical regulator.



0. S, SCHMRER..

ELECTRICAL REGULATOR L AP PLICATFON FILED OCT. 5, 191- RENEWED APR- 14,19L).

Patentd'fuly 20, 1915.

, J7 WITNESSES: I J9 ZINVENTOR,

I Umm. nun-mm n. c.

A'TTORNEY UNITE STATES PA E T OFFICE.

o'r'ro s. scimrnnn, on nnenwoon PARK, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR T0 WESTING-HOUSE ELECTRIC AND MANUFACTURING COMPANY, A conPonA'rIoN or PENN-SYLVANIA Specification of Letters Patent.

ELECTRICAL REGULATGR.

Patented July 20, 1915.

Application filed October 5,1911, Serial No. 652,996. Renewed April 14,1915. Serial No. 21,451.

To all whom it may concern Be it knownthat I, Or'ro S. SOHAIRER, acitizen of the United State -and a resident of Edgewood Park, in thecounty "oi .A lle- I gheny and State of Pennsylvania, have in- Iyented anew andusei'ul Improvement-in Electrical Regulators, of whichthe-following i'sa specification. H

My' 'nvention relates to electrical regu-' lators, and it has for itsobject to provide a simple and effective voltage or current regulator ofthe kind in which the regulation is efi'ected by adj ustmcnt of thefield excitation of a dynamo-electric machine.

panying drawing, Figure 1 of which is a diagrammatic view of a systemembodying the same, and Fig; 2 of which is a similar view of a systemembodying a modification of the regulator. I As illustrated connectionwith which the present invention is employed comprises a main generator,the armature 1 of which is connected to a suitable distributing circuit2-3-4 and thefield magnet winding 5 of which is supplied with excitingcurrent from the armature 6 of an eXciter, The field magnet winding 7 ofthe'exciter ishere shown as supplied from the eXciter armature, though,ii' desired, it

'may be supplied from any other suitable source, and in seriestherewith, is a resistor 8 that is adapted to be shunted by a pair ofcooperating stationary and movablecontact terminals 9 and 10 of a relay.The relay is also provided with a second set of cooperating stationaryand movable contact terminals 11 and 12, which are adapted to make andbreak a shunt circuit to a resistor 13 that is connected-in series withthe field magnet winding 1401: an auxiliary generator. The armature 15of the auxiliary generator may be driven by any suitable source ofpower, but, as illustrated, preferably driven by ,a motor 16 thatreceives energy from the circuit 2--34, the motor and the auxiliarygenerator constituting a The relay, of which the contact terminals 9 to12, inclusive,-constitute parts, provided with an actuatingelectroinagnet winding 18 that is supplied with current 'tromMy'invention is illustrated in the acconiin Fig. 1, the system in theauxiliary generator and the circuit of which is controlled by a pair ofcooperating stationary and movable contact terminals 19 and 20, thestationary terminal 19 being preferably mounted upon the end of a spring21 or being otherwise resiliently supported. The contact terminal 20 iscarried by a lever 23 that is pivotally or otherwise suitably connectedat difi'crent points to the cores 2% and 25, or other movable parts, oftwo electromagnetic actuating devices for the lever. The core 24: issomewhat more than supported by a spring 26, so that the member 20 isnormally held inengagement with the member 19,,and the core is providedwith an actuating winding 27 that acts, when sulficiently energized, todraw the same downwardly in opposition to the spring 26, the saidwinding being supplied from the armature 15 of the auxiliary generator.The core 25 is, in Fig. 1, only partially counter-balanced by a spring28, though any other suitable counterbalancing means may be employedinstead of the spring, and an actuating winding 29 is provided to raisethe core The winding 29 is supplied with energy from the circuit 234,as, for instance, by being connected, through a transformer 30, toconductors 2 and lVhen thus connected, the winding is energized inproportion to the voltage of the distributing circuit and varies thedistance of the member 20 from the member 19 accordingly, though theconnections may be suitably arranged by anyone skilled in the art sothat the position of the member 20 1naybe adjusted in accordance withvariations of any other electrical condition of a circuit. The movementsof the core 25 are preferably retarded by a. dash pot 31, and a stop 33is provided beneath the lever 23, adjacent to the point of connectionthereto of the core 25, in order to limit the downward movement of thecore 25. 1

As the cores 24 and 25 are pivotally or otherwise loosely connected tothe lever 23 at diiierent points, it is obvious that each of thewindings 27 and 29 may actuate the movable contact terminal 20independently oi the other, and that the point of connection of each ofthe cores to the lever serves as a fulcrum or pivotal point for thelever.

contact terminal 20 and, thereby, its distance from the contact terminal19, in response to variations of the voltage, current or otherelectrical condition of the circuits 23-1, depending upon the manner ofits association therewith, while the winding 27 is energized to varyingdegrees by the fluctuations of the voltage of the armature 15 of theauxiliary generator and thereby moves the contact terminal into and outof engagement with the contact terminal 19, the periods of engagementand disengagement 'of the contact-terminals 19 and '20 depending uponthe position of the contact terminal 20 as determined by the winding 29.

The manner in which the winding 27 causes the contact terminal 20 tomove into and out of engagement with, the member 19 will be bestunderstood from a detailed consideration of the mode of operation .ofthe apparatus. When the members 19 and 20 are out of engagement, asillustrated, the contact terminals 10 and 12 of the relay are also outof engagement with the corresponding stationary terminals 9 and 11. Theshunt circuits to the resistors 8 and 13 are accordingly interrupted andthe excitations.

. and voltages of the respective field magnet ished energization ofthe'winding 27, and

the spring 26 accoi dingly draws the contact terminal 20 into engagementwith the contact terminal 19. Uponvengagement of the contact terminals19 and 20, the relay magnet winding 18 is energized and the contactterminals 10 and 12 are brought into engagement with the contactterminals 9 and 11, with the result that the resistors 8 and 4 13 areshunted. This is followed by increased field excitations and voltages,respectively, of the exciter and the auxiliary generator, andtheincrease of the exeiter voltage is in turn followed by an increase ofthe excitation andvoltage of the mainv generator. This, acting throughthe coil 29, causes the contact terminal 20 to be lowered slightly. Atthe same time. the increased voltage of the auxiliary generator causesan increased energization' of the winding 27, which, acting inopposition to the spring 26, draws the contact terminal 20 downwardly,out of engagement with the contact terminal 19.

The operation of the regulator continues in this manner, the periods ofengagement and disengagement of the contact terminals 19 and 20depending entirely upon the electrical condition of the distributingcircuit and being automatically adjusted to maintain the voltage of thesaid circuit substantially uniform or at a desired value. 7

In the system of Fig. 2, the regulator is employed for maintaining asubstantially uniform load upon a generator 35 that supplies adistributing circuit, between the conductors 36 and 37 of which astorage battery 38 and the armature 39 of a booster are connected, thebattery being caused to charge when theload upon the distributingcircuit is light and to discharge when the said load is heavy. In orderto cause the battery to charge and discharge under the varyingconditions of load, the electromotive force of the booster armature isreversible, and, to this end, it is provided with differential fieldmagnet windings 40 and 11, the former of which is connected to suitablepoints of the battery, and the latter of which is supplied from thearmature 42 of an exciter having a shunt excited field magnet winding 43in series with which is a resistor 44. The

terminals of the resistor 44- are connected to stationary and movablecontact terminals 45 and 1-6, respectively, of a relay 47 having anactuating magnet winding 48 that receives its energy from the battery,and the circuit of which is governed by the cotiperating stationary andmovable contact members 49 and 50 ot' the regulator.

The regulator is similar in construction and operation to that of Fig.1, but its ac: tuat'ing winding 51, which corresponds to the winding29=of Fig. 1, receives current proportional to that traversing thedistributing circuit conductor 36 andan adjustable counterweight 52 issubstituted for the spring 28 of Fig. 1. The actuating winding 56 of theregulator in this case is supplied with current from the battery, andits circuit is periodically established and interrupted by means of asecond set of contact members 57: and 58 of the relay t7, the saidwinding being thereby intermittently energized to effect vibration ofthe lever.

The operation of the regulator is similar to that of Fig. 1, but,instead of regulating the voltage ofthe main generator, it regulates thedirection and value of the voltage of the booster in accordanceWlth'flllCtlliltlODS of the load upon the distributing circuit, so as tomaintain the load upon the main generator substantially uniform. Thiswill be readily understood by first considering that the load upon thedistributing circuit 3( 37 is light, under which condition the periodsof engageuient and disengagement of the contact terminals -19 and 50 andof the relay contact terminals 4-5 and 46 will be in such relation thatthe resultant booster field excitation will be in the proper directionand of uch value that the voltage of the booster armature will opposethe voltage of the battery and cause the same to be charged. When theload upon the distributing circuit is heavy and of substantially itsnormal value, the regulator will operate to cause the booster voltage tobe substantially zero, so that the battery Will simply float upon thesystem. When the load is still heavier, the periods of engagement anddisengagement of the various contact terminals of the reg ulator will bein such relation thatthe voltage of the booster armature will supplementthat of the battery, and the battery will be caused to discharge andthus assist in carrying the load, thereby relieving the genera tor. Inthis manner, the load upon the generator is maintained substantiallyuniform, the battery being caused to carry the fluctuations. v

It will be readily understood that the regulator may be adapted tomaintain other conditions substantially uniform or at desired valuesthan those set forth in connection with Figs. 1 and 2, and to regulatein accordance with variations of any other electrical condition of acircuit or system, Without departing from the spirit of the invention.The regulator may also be employed in connection with direct currentmachines, as well as with alternators. I claim as my lnventlonz 1. Aregulator comprising cooperating contact members one of which isresiliently mounted, a lever carrying the other member, two,electromagnets for actuating the lever, and resilient means partiallysupporting said lever, the lever being supportedonly by theelectromagnets and resilient means.

A regulator comprising cooperating contact members one of which isresiliently mounted, a lever carrying the other member,

subscribed my name this 29th day of Sep-' tember, 1911.

()TTO S. SCHAIRER.

Witnesses:

\Vnsmzr (l. CARR, B. B. Hixns.

